Lending a helping hand

At Hampden-Sydney College, we like to talk about making “good men and good citizens,” but here are a couple of guys on their way to being great men.

Scott Keel ’02 (below, bottom right) and Bryan Mangas ’06 (left, at right) live on two different continents but they are both committed to the same cause: providing a way for people with physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities to participate in sporting events.

Years ago, Keel started a non-profit organization in Richmond called Running With Those That Can’t. Using adaptive strollers, Keel and his friends pushed disabled athletes in the 2011 Sportsbackers Monument Avenue 10K and the Sportsbackers Half-Marathon. He says, “It took me a few years to talk the people in Richmond into allowing handicapped racers, but they finally did.”

When Keel moved to the Czech Republic, he started a chapter of Running With Those That Can’t and now participates in the Prague International Marathon.

Mangas volunteered with Running With Those That Can’t in 2011 and he has since begun his own non-profit to continue the good work started in Richmond by Keel. Inclusive Racing, which Mangas started this past year, pushed athletes in the 2012 American Family Fitness Richmond Half-Marathon and Nutzy’s Rotary Fun Run before marching in the Richmond Christmas Parade.

Mangas told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “I’ve been blessed and I know it. I’ve played and enjoyed sports my entire life. We’re just trying tobring the joy of sports to athletes and their families who otherwise might never experience it. For me, that’s what it’s all about. I want them to experience what I’ve experienced.”

Keel says, “I am so happy that Bryan is able to keep the mission alive in Richmond. What he and I do is all about helping the kids.”